Heart Machine — the studio known for Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash — has revealed that it will end active development on its Early Access project, Hyper Light Breaker, and has enacted staff reductions at its Los Angeles office.
In a message shared on social media, Heart Machine announced the decision to halt further development of Hyper Light Breaker and confirmed that an unspecified number of team members were let go. The studio’s posting, first picked up by Game Developer, explained the layoffs as a necessary but regrettable step given the circumstances confronting the company.
The statement pointed to factors beyond the studio’s control, including changes in funding, industry consolidation, and the broader instability affecting many small developers today. Heart Machine said it intends to continue operating with a smaller core team and will try to provide support to the staff leaving the studio.
Heart Machine also said it will make a final effort to refine and stabilize Hyper Light Breaker before wrapping the project. “We still have something coming in January. We plan to deliver something meaningful and as polished and complete as we can given our current circumstances. We’re doing our best to refine what we can, complete key systems, and have the game culminate in a satisfying punctuation point,” the studio wrote.
That language suggests the Early Access build will remain playable for purchasers and that the game is still listed for sale at the time of publication, but it also implies that Hyper Light Breaker will likely never reach the fully realized form Heart Machine originally intended. The studio added that it will not publish additional updates or host community Q&A sessions for the remainder of the year, citing limited resources as team members transition off the project.
Separately, Heart Machine reassured players that development of its upcoming 2D action title, Possessor(s), has not been affected and that the game remains on track for a November 11 launch.
The announcement comes roughly nine months after Hyper Light Breaker entered Steam Early Access on January 14. While the game—set in the same universe as the 2016 title Hyper Light Drifter—offered a new 3D cooperative roguelike direction, its Early Access debut met with mixed reactions: critics and players cited steep difficulty and performance problems among their primary concerns.
Despite several post-launch patches intended to address those issues, the title struggled to maintain momentum. Hyper Light Breaker’s Steam user reviews, once labeled “Mixed,” have shifted toward “Mostly Negative” following the latest developments.
Sources: Heart Machine statement, Game Developer, Game Informer preview, Steam store.
